Location

Source

Purchase, January 2013.

Processing

Processed and encoded by Anita Wellner, May 2013.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Terms Governing Use and
Reproduction

Use of materials from this collection beyond the
exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S.
Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is
required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library,
http://www.lib.udel.edu/cgi-bin/askspec.cgi

Biographical and
Historical Note

The Modern Editions Press published two series of pamphlets under the editorship of Kathleen Tankersley Young in 1932 and 1933. The first series consisted of six pamphlets which included short stories, poems and a statement. The six contributors were Dudley Fitts, John Kemmerer, Kay Boyle, Kathleen Tankersley Young, Raymond Ellsworth Larsson and Albert Halper.

The second and final series of eight pamphlets was published in 1933 and consisted exclusively of work by poets, including Lincoln Kirstein, Horace Gregory, Raymond Ellsworth Larsson, Kathleen Tankersley Young, Paul Bowles, Laurence Vail, Carl Rakosi, and Bob Brown.

Kathleen Tankersley Young, who edited both series of pamphlets for the Modern Editions Press, was an African American author and poet during the Harlem Renaissance. Along with Charles Henri Ford and Parker Tyler, Young was also one of the founding publishers of the literary magazine Blues: a Magazine of New Rhymes. Blues published several Modernists, such as Ezra Pound, E. E. Cummings, William Carlos Williams, and Gertrude Stein; as well as other poets and writers, including Kay Boyle, Erskine Caldwell and Louis Zukofsky.

Young's poems appeared in a number of literary magazines, such as The Southwest Review, The New American Caravan, Echo, Frontier, The Forge, and transition.

Scope and Content Note

The original setting typescripts in this collection were edited by Kathleen Tankersley Young and published as the first Modern Editions Press pamphlet series.

The collection includes typescripts for literary work by Dudley Fitts, John Kemmerer, Kathleen Tankersley Young, and Raymond Ellsworth Larrson, as well as a letter from Albert Halper, in which he discussed his contribution to the pamphlet series. Six pamphlets, which were originally part of this collection, were removed and cataloged for Special Collections.

The first pamphlet in the series was written by American poet Dudley Fitts and titled Two Poems, which was followed by American author John Kemmerer's Two Stories.

American poet and editor Kathleen Tankersley Young contributed The Pepper Trees : A Cycle of Three Stories for pamphlet no. 4, after which American Catholic poet Raymond Ellsworth Larsson's poem, Wherefore, Peace, was featured in the fifth pamphlet.

The final item in this collection is a typed and signed letter from American novelist Albert Halper to Lester Roberts, dated March 15, 1945. Originally accompanying a copy of Halper's Chicago Side-show, pamphlet no. 6 in the Modern Editions Press pamphlet series number one, the letter discusses this pamphlet, the series and the editor, Kathleen Tankersley Young.

Selected Search Terms

Personal Names

Fitts, Dudley, 1903-1968.

Young, Kathleen Tankersley.

Halper, Albert, 1904-1984.

Kemmerer, John.

Larsson, Raymond Ellsworth, 1901- .

Corporate Names

Modern Editions Press.

Topical Terms

American literature--History--20th century.

Publishers and publishing--United States--History--20th century.

Pamphlets--United States--History--20th century.

Form/Genre Terms

Correspondence.

Typescripts.

Poems.

Short stories.

Related Materials in this
Repository

This item forms part of MSS 099 Miscellaneous Literary and
Historical Manuscripts.

Materials Cataloged Separately

Pamphlets no. 1-6 of the first series of the Modern Editions Press pamphlet series were removed for cataloging.

Arrangement

Arranged by pamphlet series number.

Detailed Contents List

The original setting typescript for pamphlet no. 1 of the first series includes the poem, "Retreat," which has annotations by the printer on the text and the verso, and the poem, Preraphaelite Encounter with Your Grandfather," which also bears printer's extensive annotations.

John Kemmerer original setting typescripts for Two Stories, 1932 [Box 64 F938]

2 items (9 p., 9 p.)

The original setting typescripts for pamphlet no. 2 of the first series include Kemmerer's stories, "White Clouds," and "The Vast Prairie," both of which bear annotations by the printer.

Kathleen Tankersley Young original setting typescript for The Pepper Trees : A Cycle of Three Stories, 1932 [Box 64 F938]

1 item (23 p.)

This original setting typescript for pamphlet no. 4 of the first series includes three stories by Young, namely, "The Pepper Trees," "The City Under the Mountains," and "Winter Lie Down in This Street." The typescript is bound with brads in paper wrappers with a title page. The typescript bears revisions by the author and annotations by the printer.

This letter originally accompanied a copy of Halper's Chicago Side-show, pamphlet no. 6 of the Modern Editions Press pamphlet series number one. In his letter Halper discussed the pamphlet, the series and the editor, Kathleen Tankersley Young.